This Christian fuss

                                          This Christian fuss -

Nothing but words of shadow and grief -
What can I say through them that speaks to you?
Less than the water draining away down the runnels.
An old abandoned mill wheel, the trunk of a tree,
Markers of the limits of the world...
A pile of litter shakes and disintegrates...
At night the porcupines come out, seeking
A trickling of water to pity them...They join
My waking vigil to your deep dreaming sleep.

David Ferry, "News from Mount Amiata"